CVO_166.pdf

openings

166 | March 7 n 2012

what’s hot and what’s not?

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New variations

on old themes

By IM Merijn van Delft & IM Robert Ris

Frequency

In this issue of CVO we take a look at the Austrian, Belgian

and Czech Leagues, the German National Championship

and other events including the Cappelle la Grande Open.

what's hot?

Score

In his game against Rasulov, Harikrishna once again showed that the

white pawn on b3 can become terribly weak in the Berlin Endgame (we

discussed this theme in CVO 137). Balogh-Gustafsson is the latest

news from the Archangelsk front (see below).

Rodriguez Vila-Vescovi (Najdorf 6.h3) demonstrates the famous

Velimirovic sacrifice (¤f5 followed by ¤d5, see CVO 22 for some classic

examples) and is a good reminder of the energy that White generally

needs to put into his attack in the Open Sicilian. Below we take a look

at Bartel's tricky move order versus the Paulsen. Volokitin-Jobava

provides study material for the Caro-Kann Advance Variation.

Gyimesi is a true 1.d4 expert. His game against Bromberger was a

King's Indian gone completely wrong for Black and below we have a

look at his Semi-Tarrasch game versus Socko. Khenkin-Stern was an

interesting white approach against the QGD. Le Quang Liem-Ni Hua

was a tough battle in the Slav between two elite Asian players. Laznicka

beat Matlakov in the Semi-Slav with 5...a6 (see below). Our Game of

the Week saw Van Wely produce a model game against Ikonnikov, who

went for 6...¥xd2 in the diagram position.

Source: Megabase + TWIC, 2500+ only

Van Kampen was the top seat in the Amsterdam Batavia Tournament, but finished a very mediocre event with a terrible blunder and

thus a quick loss against Hebden. The first 16 moves of this game were in fact discussed in CVO 159. By that point Black already

enjoyed full compensation for the sacrificed pawn and most likely knew exactly what he was doing. The

moral, of course, is that failing to carefully read your weekly CVO can cost you dearly!

what’s not?

1 of 4

openings what’s hot and what’s not?

166 | March 7 n 2012

Reviving an old Queen's Indian

In the following game Ikonnikov tried an old Ulf Andersson line but never managed to

equalize completely. In the end Van Wely instructively transformed his positional edge into a

strong initiative.

game of the week

Van Wely - Ikonnikov

Van Wely,L (2689) - Ikonnikov,V (2550)

Belgian League, 04.03.2012

E15, Queen ' s Indian

12.e4 ¤c6 13.¤xc6 dxc6 14.e5 ¤d7 15.f4

¤c5 16.¤f3 a5

Sooner or later this move has to be played in

order to keep the ¤ on c5. Less accurate is

16...£xd1 17.¦axd1 followed by ¤d4 (attacking

the pawn on c6) and doubling ¦s on the d-file,

when White retains a nasty advantage.

17.£e2 ¦a7

It seems more natural to connect the ¦s and

prepare for massive exchanges on the d-file

with 17...£c7.

18.¦ad1 ¦d7 19.¦xd7 £xd7 20.¦d1 £c8

21.¤g5 g6

21...¦d8? fails to 22.¦xd8+ £xd8 23.£h5 and

White wins. 21...h6 22.¤e4 ¤xe4 23.£xe4

leaves the pawn on c6 vulnerable.

22.¦d6 ¦d8 23.£d1 ¦xd6

Ignoring the exchange of ¦s with 23...¦e8 is

hardly an option now, because of 24.£f3 and

Black gets into trouble.

24.exd6

The only chance to fight for an advantage.

Nothing can be gained from 24.£xd6 when

Black can simply wait.

24...f6 25.¤f3 ¢f7 26.£d4 £d8 27.g4 ¤b7

27...¤d7 28.g5 f5 29.¤e5+ ¤xe5 30.£xe5

and the white £ will infiltrate along the dark

squares.

28.d7

¢xd8 33.¤xc6+ ¢d7=) 31...¢xf7 32.£d6 ¢e8

33.£xe6+ £e7 34.£xc6 £e2+ 35.¢g3 £xa2

with an equal position.

29.h4

The immediate 29.g5! would also have been

strong.

29...¤c5 30.g5 e5?

Harakiri, but alternatives aren ' t much better.

30...£xd7 31.£xf6+ and Black ' s kingside

falls apart. 30...¤xd7 31.gxh6 £e7 32.£e4

and the pawn on c6 falls, as 32...c5 can be

met powerfully by 33.h5!. The most stubborn

defense would have been 30...hxg5 31.fxg5

¤xd7 32.gxf6 ¢e8 (32...c5 drops a piece, in

view of 33.¤e5+ ¢e8 34.f7+ ¢f8 35.£d6+

¢g7 36.f8£+ £xf8 37.£xd7++-) 33.f7+ ¢xf7

34.¤e5+ ¢e8 35.¤xg6 and although White is

winning here, Black can struggle on.

31.fxe5 fxg5 32.hxg5

Of course not 32.£d6? £xd7 and Black

survives.

32...hxg5

32...h5 can also be answered with 33.£d6

£xd7 34.£f6+ picking up the g- and h-pawns.

33.£d6!

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33...g4

The point of White ' s play is that 33...£xd7 can

be met by 34.e6+! winning the £: 34...£xe6

(34...¤xe6 35.£xd7++-) 35.¤xg5+.

34.¤g5+!

Black resigned, as White ' s passed pawns

are unstoppable, e.g. 34...¢g7 (34...£xg5

35.d8£+-) 35.£f6+ and White obtains a new

£. 1–0

1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 e6 3.¤f3 b6 4.g3 ¥a6

There was a time when Black would

automatically play 4...¥b7 . In CVO 159 we

covered a relatively unexplored idea which

caught leading expert Tiviakov by surprise.

5.b3

At one time this move was played almost

exclusively in this position. In the last couple

of years White has employed 5.£c2 (CVO 11,

63 and 68) and 5.£a4 (CVO 16, 48 and 93)

more often.

5...¥b4+ 6.¥d2 ¥xd2+

A very solid, but passive continuation which

came into fashion towards the end of the

seventies due to the efforts of the Swedish

legend Ulf Andersson. Nowadays Black

usually opts for 6...¥e7. In CVO 60, 64 and

68 we reviewed the current state of that

variation.

7.¤bxd2

The other recapture 7.£xd2 has been played

more frequently and is perhaps more critical.

In fact, Van Wely had played it twice before

(though without success), while last year

Levon Aronian defeated Nigel Short in a

technical encounter during the London Chess

Classic.

7...¥b7 8.¥g2 c5 9.0–0 cxd4

Another high-profile game went 9...0–0 10.£c2

¤c6 11.£b2 (11.dxc5 bxc5 12.¤e4 ¤xe4

13.£xe4 £e7 14.¦ad1 d6 is OK for Black.)

11...¤xd4 12.¤xd4 ¥xg2 13.¢xg2 cxd4

14.£xd4 d5 and Black comfortably equalized

in Andersson-Short, Naestved 1985.

10.¤xd4 ¥xg2 11.¢xg2 0–0

11...a6 12.e3 (12.e4!? might be more

challenging.) 12...0–0 13.£f3 ¦a7 14.¦fd1

¦c7 15.¤e4 ¤xe4 16.£xe4 £c8 17.¦d2 £b7

18.£xb7 ¦xb7 19.¦ad1 ¦c8 20.e4 ¢f8 21.f4

¢e7 22.¢f2 b5 was unproblematic for Black in

Bellon Lopez-Short, Gibraltar 2006.

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28...h6?

This move seriously weakens the pawn on

g6. Better would have been 28...¤c5 when

Black seems to hold on after e.g. 29.g5 ¤xd7

30.gxf6 ¢e8! 31.f7+ (31.¤e5 ¤xf6 32.£xd8+

2 of 4

openings what’s hot and what’s not?

166 | March 7 n 2012

this week’s harvest

Ruy Lopez, Archangelsk

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1.e4 e5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.¥b5 a6 4.¥a4 ¤f6 5.0–0 b5 6.¥b3 ¥c5 7.a4 ¦b8 8.¤xe5 ¤xe5 9.d4 ¥xd4 10.£xd4

d6 11.f4 ¤c6 12.£d3 0–0 13.¤c3 ¤b4 14.£d2 ¥e6 15.¥xe6 fxe6 16.¤xb5 ¤xc2 17.£xc2 axb5 18.a5

As we pointed out in CVO 86, the pseudo-sacrifice ¤xe5 can be quite a tricky line to deal with as Black,

especially the new version with White leaving the a-file closed for the time being. White gets the pair of

bishops, but has to deal with Black's dynamic counterplay. 12.£c3 ¤e7 13.£d3 has been White's choice so

far, and Black's best course of action here may be 13...c5 14.axb5 axb5 15.c4 0–0! 16.cxb5 d5! 17.exd5 ¥f5

18.£c4 ¤exd5 with good chances of equalizing. This week in Balogh-Gustafsson, White played the immediate

12.£d3!?, which is in fact a novelty. Black's 14...¥e6?! looks like an inaccuracy, with 14...bxa4 15.¥xa4 ¥d7 a

critical alternative. In the diagram position the modest 18...¦a8 may give better chances of holding the position.

In the game Gustafsson played more actively with 18...c5, but following 19.e5 Balogh got an initiative that proved

decisive in the endgame. On a side note, this week's Antoniewski-Ragger saw 8.c3 d6 9.axb5 axb5 10.d3,

which didn't really worry Black.

Sicilian, Paulsen

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1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.¤xd4 a6 5.¥d3 £c7 6.£e2 d6 7.b3 ¤f6 8.¥b2 ¥e7 9.¤d2 0–0 10.c4 b6

11.f4 ¤bd7 12.0–0 ¥b7 13.¦ae1 ¦ad8 14.¥c2 g6 15.e5 dxe5 16.fxe5 ¤h5 17.¤2f3 ¤g7 18.¢h1 ¦fe8 19.£e3

The Sicilian Paulsen can be quite a move order labyrinth, which was confirmed by Bartel-Petr, played in the

Czech League this week. Black's 5...£c7 may actually be less flexible than the more common 5...¤f6 6.0–0

£c7. Or would Bartel have delayed castling in that case as well? By playing 6.£e2 d6 7.b3!? Bartel discourages

his opponent from going for a setup with ...g6, which is seen as Black's most critical course in this branch of

the Paulsen. The position after 12 moves is more frequently reached by a different move order. By putting his

¤ on d2 instead of c3, White can play ¤2f3 later on to defend his far advanced e-pawn. With 15...dxe5?! Petr

probably committed an inaccuracy, with the immediate 15...¤h5 being the critical move and leaving the position

very explosive. In the diagram position Black panicked with 19...f5?, giving White an attractive attacking position

for free. 19...b5 had to be tried instead. If Black wants to avoid these kinds of position he's best advised to stick

to the modern main line with 5...¥c5.

Semi-Tarrasch

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1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 e6 3.¤f3 d5 4.¤c3 c5 5.cxd5 ¤xd5 6.e4 ¤xc3 7.bxc3 cxd4 8.cxd4 ¥b4+ 9.¥d2

¥xd2+ 10.£xd2 0–0 11.¦c1 b6 12.¥d3 ¥b7 13.0–0 ¤d7 14.£f4 ¦c8 15.¦xc8 £xc8 16.¦c1

In CVO 29 and 100 we extensively covered the current status of theory in the Semi-Tarrasch. Before entering

the masses of variations both sides have to know, White has an interesting side-line at his disposal. White can

delay the development of his king's ¥ with 11.¦c1!? and in case of the careless 11...¤c6 Nakamura proved in

his game with Gyimesi that White retains some annoying pressure by means of 12.¥b5! Therefore Black's main

option is 11...b6 when White brings his ¥ to d3. In the PGN-file you can see that Black has a choice of where to

develop the ¤ at move 13. After 13...¤c6 the critical move seems to be 14.d5!? leading to double-edged play,

though both Alekseev and Onischuk only drew their games in this variation. Socko has a strong preference for

13...¤d7, but failed to reach comfortable equality in his encounters with Stefanova and Gyimesi. In the diagram

position the Polish GM decided to enter a worse ending with 16...£b8?, though 16...£a8 might instead have

been a narrow escape for Black.

Slav, Chebanenko

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1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.¤c3 ¤f6 4.¤f3 a6 5.e3 e6 6.b3 ¥b4 7.¥d2 ¤bd7 8.¥d3 0–0 9.0–0 ¥d6 10.¦e1 h6 11.e4 dxc4

12.bxc4 e5 13.c5 ¥c7 14.£c2 exd4 15.¤e2 ¦e8 16.h3 ¤h7 17.¤exd4 ¤e5 18.¦ad1 ¤g5 19.¤xe5 ¥xe5 20.¤e2

The Semi-Slav with 5...a6 used to be quite popular a couple of years ago, but it's hardly seen in top games

anymore. In CVO 118 we provided an update on 6.£c2, and in this issue we take a look at the more flexible

6.b3. On move 10 White has a wide range of choices and the last word certainly hasn't been spoken yet about

10.¦e1!? Last year Bacrot put Rublevsky into deep trouble, but then let his advantage slip away. In Laznicka-

Matlakov Black therefore deviated with 15...¦e8, and a very interesting strategic battle commenced. White aims

to get control over the central darks squares e5 and f4 while also intending to restrict Black's possibilities of

bringing his light-squared ¥ into play. In the diagram position Black decided to sacrifice on h3, as alternatives

also don't seem entirely satisfactory. A possible improvement for Black might be 16...b6!?, as transferring the ¤

to g5 via h7 doesn't fit into Black's positional plans.

3 of 4

openings what’s hot and what’s not?

166 | March 7 n 2012

it’s your move

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last week’s solutions

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Socko-Bartel, Polish Championship (Warsaw), 2012

If White can play ¤g3 his space advantage would enable him to build up attacking chances against the black

¢. Apparently such a scenario didn't appeal to Bartel, who instead preferred to seize the initiative himself.

16...¤fxe4!? 17.¥xe4 ¤xe4 18.¦xe4 f5 19.gxf5 ¥xf5 20.¤g3 20.¦e3 also comes into consideration, though

after 20...£d7 Black retains similar compensation for the material investment. 20...£d7! Obviously Black isn ’ t

interested in restoring the material balance with 20...¥xe4? 21.¤xe4 when the ¤s have perfect control of the

middle of the board. 21.¦e1 21.¤xf5 £xf5 22.¦e3 ¥d8! with the idea of 23...¥b6 gives Black a dangerous

initiative. 21...¥xh3 22.¤h2 ¦f6 23.¥e3 ¦bf8 Black has two pawns for the ¤, but more importantly all his forces

are eyeing the kingside. In practical terms White ’ s position is very hard to defend.

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Saric-Huschenbeth, Bundesliga (Hockenheim), 2012

It looks like White has started the game in a fairly positional manner, but the truth is that he had quite aggressive

intentions: 18.g4! Grabbing the initiative on the kingside. 18...h6?! This turns out to be too risky. Better was the

immediate 18...¥c6! 19.g5 (19.¥xc5 ¥xc5 20.£xc5 ¦d2 21.¦ac1 £f4 with compensation) 19...¤d7 but of course

White can keep going with 20.f4. 19.h4 ¥c6 20.g5 hxg5 21.hxg5 ¤h7 22.£h4 ¤f8 23.f4 ¤g6 24.£h3 A deadly

white ¦ switch can hardly be prevented at this point. 24...¥d6 24...¦d4!? had to be tried. 25.e5 ¥e7 26.¦f2! and

it was over quickly: 26...c4 27.¦h2 ¥b4 28.¥b6 £d7 29.¤a2 £d2 30.¥e3 1–0

openings

ChessVibes Openings is a weekly PDF magazine that covers the latest news on chess openings. Which openings are hot in

top level chess? Which are not? Editors IM Merijn van Delft & IM Robert Ris keep you updated once a week! Why not subscribe

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